On the Farm

On a cold day in November, Malik’s car pulls up in our driveway. He and a companion, Papa, step out. . . We shake hands and exchange warm greetings. Malik asks after my husband and our two grown children. I ask Malik and Papa how their families are doing. We comment on the weather. Daylight is fading, however, and there’s work to do, so we head to the barn.

The crispness of fall has given way to chillier nights and snow dusted mornings throughout much of Vermont. It’s the season to tuck in with a glass of local wine or cider in hand. As you sip slowly, here's some food (or drink) for thought: what happens to the waste produced in the creation of your beverage? Where does that spent grape must and pomace go, aside from the compost bin?

Seven years ago, Local Banquet’s summer issue featured an article on Royalton Vermont’s Bob White Systems and their innovative “LiLi”—a low-input, low impact system for pasteurizing milk. The LiLi is designed for “micro dairies” processing milk from as few as 4 cows. We checked in to see what's happened since we first profiled the invention in 2011.

“Farm to Table” is a familiar term—the distribution of goods from local farms to local communities that enables us to know where our food comes from and encourages the support of our producers. I hadn’t much entertained the idea of “Farm to Fashion,” hadn’t really considered the depth of the phrase, until I met fiber artist Hannah Regier at her home and studio in Athens, Vermont.

Blair Marvin and Andrew Heyn of Elmore Mountain Bread have been baking together for 14 years. They’ve spent years researching and fine-tuning their recipes and processes to make the best bread possible—loaves that are full of taste yet equally full of nutrition.

What we do

Our stories, interviews, and essays reveal how Vermont residents are building their local food systems, how farmers are faring in a time of great opportunity and challenge, and how Vermont’s agricultural landscape ties into larger questions of sustainability and the future of our food supply.